Malaria is responsible for more than 1 million deaths a year. What makes this disease so fatal is the fact that it is extremely challenging to treat, as the parasites easily become resistant to drugs used to treat it and the mosquitoes develop a resistance to the pesticides designed to kill them.
So with that in mind, researchers set out to determine if there was a way to stop mosquitoes in their tracks. Specifically, they sought to identify something that could infect mosquitoes during their "after-feeding" resting hours. And they succeeded.
Researchers in the U.K., Netherlands, Switzerland and Tanzania have revealed natural weapons against malaria that require neither taking a pill nor creating environmental concerns. The weapons? Two species of fungi.
Fungi to the Rescue
In one study, researchers sprayed oil containing a fungus known as Beauveria bassiana into cardboard pots before placing malaria-carrying mosquitoes in them for six hours (about the same time span it takes for bugs to digest food before moving to lay their eggs). The results showed:
More than 90 percent of the bugs died within two weeks--about the time it takes for the active malaria virus to move from its abdomen to its saliva for transmission to a human.
As for the mosquitoes that lived, they bit less, flew poorly and developed the malaria parasite more slowly than others.
In the second study, researchers hung up two sets of black cotton sheets; mosquitoes were collected alive for three weeks. One set of sheets was covered with a fungus known as Metarhizium anisopliae while the other set (the control) remained clean. The results showed:
The fungus-smeared sheets induced the spread of an infection in 23 percent of the mosquitoes caught that killed them in almost four days, compared to nine days for untreated sheets.
Since mosquitoes bite humans multiple times throughout their lifetime, scientists calculated the fungus would eliminate the spread of malaria by 75 percent.
Fortunately, according to researchers, there is no evidence that insects can develop resistance to fungi; however, the fungi won't prevent people from getting malaria from mosquitoes that are already infected with the disease.
BBC News June 9, 2005
New York Times June 10, 2005
Though most of us in Western countries are spared the burden of malaria, it affects many millions worldwide with quite devastating consequences. Currently responsible for the deaths of some 2 million people per year, some research suggests that malaria may have killed half of all people that have ever lived!
It is clear to me, and many others, that using traditional drugs for malaria, especially Lariam, is not a wise choice as they have been associated with a large number of serious side effects.
Genetic modification of mosquitoes is another option, but I think (while it is appealing) there are far too many risks with this method.
This study does seem to provide a promising natural and relatively risk-free alternative that can be added to another option I've mentioned previously, magnetic fields.
Herbal products are also another option to consider, as artemesia and garlic have been promising, especially if combined with an amino acid like arginine.
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